By living ethically, those who don’t eat animals
represent an uncomfortable truth to people who
still eat animals. One common defense mechanism
is to change the subject. When dealing with
a vegetarian, it makes sense for the non-veg
person to make the vegetarian the issue and
to ignore the plight of the animals. It is hard
not to take attacks like this personally, and
thus conversations can quickly degrade into
insults.

However, we all know angry,
arrogant vegans. (If you don’t know any angry vegans
– and don’t want to – avoid the
comment sections on any and all pages that deal
with animal issues or veganism!)

As we make clear in the prior two links, being
angry is entirely justified. But as should also
be clear, the furious, judgmental vegan makes
it easy for non-veg people to ignore the animals’
plight and continue to eat them. Thus, anger
(and arrogance, and self-righteousness) hurts
animals.

If we care more about the animals
than our personal veganism or righteous anger,
our singular purpose must be to help others
open their hearts and minds to the animals’
plight. From the “Countering
the Stereotype” portion of
A
Meaningful Life:

It is not enough to be a vegan, or even a
dedicated vegan advocate. We must remember
the bottom line – reducing suffering
– and actively be the opposite of the
vegan stereotype. Just as we need everyone
to look beyond the short-term satisfaction
of following habits and traditions, we need
to move past our sorrow and anger to optimal
advocacy. We must learn “how to win
friends and influence people,” so that
we leave everyone we meet with the impression
of a joyful individual leading a fulfilling
and meaningful life.

Product
of the Week

Rachel Atcheson sends this pic of a
“guy who went vegetarian after reading the leaflet the last time we handed him one on MIT’s campus!”

Notes
from Our Members

My
best friend from high school just
started at MIT, and just messaged me: “So,
there’s this one spot at MIT that basically
every undergraduate crosses multiple times a
day to get from dorm to class and there are almost
always people handing out things. I took one
yesterday, and it was a Vegan Outreach booklet!”—Ellen Green, 9/17/12

Today at
Mt. San Antonio College was one
of those days. Everything Kassy touched turned
into tofu. Morale booster is an understatement.
After handing a booklet to a guy at the University
of La Verne, a guy behind me called out: “Hey
what about me? I wanna help animals.” HA!
LOVE THE LOVE TODAY!
We were in place
by 7:30 and the Earth shifted – not by her plates
– by the consciousness of her most virulent
species. Almost immediately a woman stopped
to chat when I offered her a booklet. She was
asking me what to do to help w/o going veg.
While discussing the issue with her, THREE other
people came up to listen / discuss this issue
too. Kassy held the fort while I took on these
eager young folks. In the end, all except one
requested a Guide,
and one is returning to veg. Hip hip!
Katherine [below]
stopped after Kassy handed her a booklet, chatting
about how much she loves animals and was excited
to hear the veg options and advice from K. Long
story short she dropped her bag and grabbed
booklets to help for 30 minutes before her next
class. IS A NATURAL TOO!!
Amazing day!—Nikki Benoit, 9/12/12

Here
is a picture of Cesar Sanchez
[right] leafleting like a champ!! He started leafleting
with me after he got a booklet. We then were
approached by 3 freshman girls asking if there
was an animal welfare club on campus – the
3rd time today we were asked that! Cesar told
the girls he would help them start one!!—Kassy Ortega, 9/12/12

Matt
and I reached over 300 people outside
Chicago’s only Chick-fil-A (at Loyola’s Water Tower
Campus), and everyone was nice and positive.
I did have one guy who made a silly comment
going into the restaurant, but then apologized
for it when he was leaving: “Sorry bro,
I didn’t mean to be an asshole, but I was just
super hungry after work.” I told him that
it was no problem and that perhaps tomorrow
would be his meat-free day. He smiled and said
that perhaps it would. Another lady stopped
to chat for a bit about how she used to be vegetarian,
but then went back to eating meat, but was trying
to get back to being vegetarian again. She said
that she had cut out beef and pork, but after
telling her that the best thing to cut out would
be chicken, she said that she would try to focus
on that. Matt had a conversation with a lady
that had gotten a booklet about a month ago
and hadn’t been able to eat meat since. After
they got a booklet, several people actually
decided to not go inside for dinner, which was
great to see. A very positive night of outreach
and this location should be continued to be
hit. I know Mr. Espinosa is already doing this,
so kudos to him.—Mikael Nielsen, 8/6/12

Nancy
joined me at Chick-fil-A, and
we reached 500 more people. One woman, after
getting a booklet, came back and declared, “This
is it, I can’t eat meat any longer.” I
gave her a Guide and encouragement.—Joe Espinosa, 8/7/12

Took
only 45 minutes for Kristie, Milena,
and me to reach 300 people in downtown Oakland.
One woman came back 10 minutes later to say
that she was “seriously considering going
vegan because of this booklet, it was eye-opening!”—Alex Bury (left), 8/10/12

Jon
B and I reached 679 new people with
Would
Jesus Eat Meat Today? in our fourth
year at the Ignite Chicago Christian Rock Fest.
The crowd can be tough and react angrily to
the message. But both days, we encountered a
few people who said they were veg or gave us
a thumbs-up. Overall, great outreach!—Darina Smith, 7/22/12

Solid
night of leafleting at Fountain
Square. Met lots of vegetarians, some of whom
took a booklet to share with friends. The highlight
of the evening was a man who told me his daughters
received booklets earlier in the evening and
now they don’t want to eat the steak he planned
on cooking tomorrow. We actually spoke for about
five minutes about meat alternatives, health
benefits and such, and it sounds like the family
wants to start moving toward a meat-free lifestyle!—Rich Sheer, 8/11/12

The
best reception I ever had at Oregon
State. Met loads of vegetarians, and almost
everyone took a booklet, often with an enthusiastic
“awesome” or “oh yeah” when
I offered info to help animals. It was such
a good day I think I should go buy a lottery
ticket.—Nettie Schwager, 8/9/12

Never mind the strobes, this Cleveland concertgoer is entranced by our Warped Tour Why Vegan?

Strangely
pleasant day of leafleting at
Union Square – many people were coming up to
me asking questions and thanking me for what
I do, very cool. Met two women who said they
are starting their vegan journey this week and
that seeing the booklet helps.—Nathan Shin, 8/9/12

The
Bud Billiken Parade is the largest
African-American parade in the country. Leafleting
was pretty fun! People were friendly and receptive,
and a number stopped to ask questions.—Leslie Patterson, 8/11/12

John sends this pic from the Scranton show: “Jo Jo, a girl who expressed thanks to me for being out there and was very impacted by the booklet.” And shown below are Victor Sjodin, Pauline Lombardo, Lesley Parker-Rollins, Jon Camp, and Jay Kristensen leafleting the Warped Tour’s stop outside Baltimore.

Another 8,550
rockers reached at Cleveland’s
Warped Tour stop – Nathan, Jennifer, Vic, Dan,
Mandy, Lisa, and I formed a wall of leafleting
prowess. We heard many positive comments, including
“This made me go vegetarian!” and
“This is nasty as hell, it makes me not
want to eat meat.”
The Scranton Warped
leafleting was the quintessential day of efficiency
– 8,100 more young people had their eyes opened.
Ben, Kathy, Will, Ali, Vic, and I had an extremely
high take rate. One girl was about to throw
the leaflet away, saying, “This makes me
so sad.” I replied, “Yes, it’s sad,
but you directly impact the lives of dozens
of animals every year and you owe it to yourself
and those animals to be aware of what’s going
on behind closed doors.” It was a mouthful,
but she seemed to really take it to heart and
vowed to read the leaflet. Her friends also
seemed much more inclined to read up on how
their dietary preferences impact the lives of
hundreds of animals.
On my last day
of the 2012 Warped Tour (Columbia, MD), I was
fortunate enough to have some of the biggest
players and pioneers in the movement to leaflet
alongside – Nick, Kate, Aaron, Sally, Nathan,
Pauline, Josh, Jay, Jon, Lesley, and Vic. We
reached 11,725 more people, with a very high take
rate. Damn it feels good to be a leafleter!—John Oberg, 7/24/12

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.